Friday, May 23, 2014

Trickle Up Redistribution of Wealth ..again

President Obama's Policies Proven Detrimental to the Economy

I've been saying for years that President Obama's economic policies, along with the Federal Reserve's monetary policies, are making the rich richer. They are also making the middle class and the working poor poorer. It's the great irony since these are the groups President Obama claims he is championing.

Yesterday's New York Times article, Economic Recovery Is Leaving Major Democratic Constituencies Behind (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/us/politics/economic-recovery-is-leaving-major-democratic-constituencies-behind.html?hpw&rref=politics&_r=0) , demonstrates how we know this very dynamic is occurring.

The article says, "Though broad measures of the economy are showing signs of improvement, a closer look at important indicators among individual groups reveals that voting blocs critical to Democrats in recent elections are not yet feeling the benefits."

You and I know that they shouldn't wait around to start feeling them either. While President Obama says he is working for women and minorities, the data doesn't show this to be true. In fact, the opposite… So here are the metrics pointed out in the article…

* For women, the unemployment rate is down from 8.1% to 5.7%. It says, "But while the number of women out of work appears to be much improved, the number of women employed compared with the total female population is 55.2 percent, actually worse than it was in 2010."

* About 6.7 million people had multiple jobs in 2010. Now it's seven million.

* Across the board, incomes have been declining. For those in the middle, they've gone down 4.26% between 2009 and 2012.

* The "quit rate" is now a leading indicator of the health of the economy. It measures how willing people are to leave a job on their own or take risks. This number is down…

* The article says, "Black women have seen no improvement in their employment rate." And Hispanic employment has only risen from 58.6% to 60.8%.

The kicker comes in the last two paragraphs when Jared Bernstein, a former economist for the Obama White House says, "Since the end of the recession, the gross domestic product has grown 11 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 is up 83 percent, corporate profits have swelled 53% - and median household income, in the most up-to-date numbers is down 4%."

In the next paragraph he alludes to the fact that more needs to be done to level the playing field. He believes economic growth alone won't do it. But this administration has done more to level the playing field in favor of the bottom 15% (income-wise) of Americans than any other. The policies are simply detrimental to Americans at large.

This will change your view of America

This will probably change the way you think about your neighbors and our country in general. Get the story, free of charge, here (http://pro1.stansberryresearch.com/217080/)
In conclusion, Bernstein's initial statement is correct, but it's no mystery why this has occurred. It's called bad legislation.

The Fed's quantitative easing is a principle reason the stock market is up and why the "1%'ers" are doing so well. CEO's of Corporations have a great incentive to increase their dividends and up their stock buybacks because interest rates are artificially low.

Corporations are also just hoarding their money because pro-growth legislation hasn't been passed. We need tax reform, but we aren't getting it. In order for businesses to invest, they want a pro-business climate, and President Obama has not provided that throughout his time in office.  These are the reasons wages are down and household income for American families is down as well.

Groups like The Project have been sounding the alarm the whole time with efforts like our Audit the Fed petition... I hope American voters continue to understand that that when legislation that sounds really great gets passed, hardworking Americans are usually the ones to foot the bill.

Once again, thank you for sending me your e-mails. I can't respond individually, but do read and consider all of them. Send your question, comment, or complaint to wendy@theprojecttorestoreamerica.com (mailto:wendy@theprojecttorestoreamerica.com) .


Bidwell comment: According to this Washington Examiner article, "Federal spending on the Obamacare website healthcare.gov (http://healthcare.gov/) , a source of tremendous frustration for the public and embarrassment for the White House, will soon cross the $1 billion mark as the administration continues to fix glitches and make it an IT gem, according to congressional testimony."

In today's Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304422704579574390961658638?mg=reno64-wsj) , it says emergency rooms have gotten busier since the ACA expanded insurance coverage, even though it was supposed to keep people out of the ERs...

I've heard restaurant servers say, "Everyone should be a waiter or waitress at some point." I would add that every politician considering making major changes to healthcare should have to work in a hospital for a few years. They would see firsthand a tightly choreographed act, performed nearly perfectly, leading to a series of miracles every day. They would see our healthcare providers are like tightrope walkers, working in a system with no slack or room for error.

Bidwell comment: Thank you for your feedback, John. I'd argue that the article Michael Busler wrote on Monday is excellent information that you don't usually get in the mainstream media.

Source: The Project to Restore America Newsletter,

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